RPG's and the Role of Dragons

Well Met Travellers,

I’ve been thinking a lot about dragons lately.

Artist unknown, recovered from instagram.

Dragons are such an essential part of many fantasy stories, and in many of these tales, Dragons are described much like I have penned here, creatures that can decimate whole armies, and drive dwarves from their ancestral homes. It often takes the work of mighty heroes to destroy ONE dragon, and yet they come away with significant losses.

But how many dragons do our players kill in the course of an RPG campaign? 

It was my design approach when developing the world of Antediluvian, that dragons regain their reputation as creatures that should be feared, as creatures that could be the death of an entire civilization. And as such, few adventurers will ever best a fully grown dragon in combat by killing it, and none will ever be able to claim to have slain a Great Wyrm.

Does this mean that dragons should never appear in campaigns in Antediluvian or should never be villains? Absolutely not! Dragons are an essential part of this world and should appear in many games on Antediluvian, but an encounter with a Dragon is a different sort of encounter. Dragons are ancient, so they could be a source of information that has been lost to mortal history. A dragon may be the villain of a campaign, but rather than being defeated through combat, players must out-think the dragon, foil its plans, or beat it in a game of politics. If players insist upon fighting a dragon, allow it to beat them, but in its pride, it spares them and sends them away to show both the party and the nearby settlements, why dragons are to be feared. Dragons also make fun allies, for what party won't be excited when a dragon they completed a quest for earlier in a campaign shows up in their moment of need? Be creative with how your party encounters dragons; they are more than hitpoints and fire breath.

Farewell and stay safe,

~Crazy Weasel